Hursh Comment

Grains, oilseeds, specialty crops, cattle and hogs. In almost all cases, the price levels are substantially better than they were a year ago. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture publishes a report that compares current commodity prices to those of the previous year. Feed barley at about $3.50 a bushel is a full dollar above last …

The Mexican market continues to frustrate Canadian canaryseed exporters. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been decreasing the allowable number of weed seeds in Canadian canaryseed exports, but we still haven’t been able to satisfy Mexican authorities. I’m told that virtually all of our export cargoes are being sent for re-cleaning in Mexico. Cleavers has …

Will the Conservatives form a majority government or will they be forced to continue in a minority position? Based on the polling results being published, those would seem to be the two most likely election results. If there is a Conservative majority, what policy changes can farmers expect? The two obvious ones involve the Canadian …

The price projections for wheat and durum have dimmed a bit over the past month. In the Pool Return Outlooks released yesterday, most grades of wheat are down 20 to 25 cents a bushel in this crop year and 60 to 70 cents a bushel in the new crop year. The drops are greater on …

The performance of CP Rail has been nothing short of terrible. Some observers say that CP has never really recovered since the washout of its mainline at Maple Creek last summer. There have also been some avalanche issues over the winter. However, snow in the mountains is a usual occurrence. All the numbers show that …

Check the calendar. It doesn’t look like the 23rd of March outside. The few gophers that have emerged look a bit surprised as well. A month from now in a normal year, seeding would be underway in a few parts of Saskatchewan. It’s hard to believe that’s going to happen this year. A slow melt …

It’s rare to have widespread agreement by farm groups on a policy initiative, but the federal government is receiving a lot of praise for its plan to deal with railway performance. The accolades are coming from across the political spectrum. It was widely expected that the Rail Service Review conducted over the past couple years …

China and India figure prominently into the discussion about the future of Canadian agriculture. Although China has received a lot of attention over many years, India has become a huge market, particularly for Saskatchewan peas and lentils. Thus, the just-concluded Saskatchewan trade mission to India. The economy of China is roughly four times larger than …

According to market analyst Chuck Penner of Leftfield Commodity Research, there have been a number of interesting developments in the grain markets over the course of this crop year. In field peas, there has been a complete turnaround in the ending stocks situation. Yellow pea exports have been amazingly brisk meaning we’ll end the crop …

Following the events of recent weeks, many grain markets have dropped dramatically and there are a lot of references to Black Swan events and the Black Swan theory. By definition, a Black Swan event is one that is a surprise to the observer while having a major impact. In retrospect, you wonder why it wasn’t …

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has come out with its latest market forecast for grains, oilseeds and specialty crops. The forecast includes an estimate of this year’s seeded acreage and their numbers generally look quite plausible, assuming there isn’t a major acreage that has to go unseeded. The biggest acreage drop is forecast on lentils, down …

Statistics Canada has released a pile of data and estimates related to agriculture. Not surprisingly, the stats show that large farms are accounting for an increasing share of production. In 2008, 65 per cent of farms were in the small category with gross revenues of less than $100,000 a year. Fifteen percent of farms were …